Cross-cultural Marketing

In this research field of research, we analyze whether international companies should standardize their marketing activities or if they should adapt to the culture or peculiarities of the given target country. Among other issues, we investigate consumer behavior across different countries and (sub-)cultures.

What are the questions the department is dealing with?

For instance, we examine how the cultural imprint influences the impact of humor in advertising. In addition, the department’s scope is on the following topics:

Cross-cultural consumer behavior:e.g., is there a need to adjust models of consumer behavior to different cultures or are these models universal?

Equivalence and response tendencies:e.g., which methodological issues need to be considered in cross-cultural comparative studies?

Accent and dialect research:e.g., how do accents or dialects in business communication affect the perception and behavior of the customer?

Consumer animosity and country-of-origin effect:e.g., how does a product’s origin influence consumer’s cognitive and affective evaluations?